Intel is buying Germany's Infineon Technologies' profit-struggling wireless baseband chip business for $1.4 billion cash, roughly three times revenues.

It'll give the semi giant a piece of Apple's ARM-based iPhone business and a position in other Atom-free wireless widgets. ARM is the smartphone king, but presumably Intel is going to try to push Atom over the hump using Infineon though it needs more than that.

Intel, which has banged its head against many a wall trying to figure out phones, means to run the operation as a free-standing operation. It sold similar operations like the ARM-based XScale for cheap back in 2006 to focus on its core business, which is now under market pressure.

It now says the acquisition will let it "offer a portfolio of products that cover the full range of wireless options from Wi-Fi and 3G to WiMax and LTE," wireless being one of Intel's recently articulated three-pillar strategy of energy-efficient performance, security and Internet connectivity.

The deal will take until Q1 to close.

You will of course remember that Intel is also buying McAfee for $7.7 billion, more money than it's even spent on an acquisition before. It says it will put more security into its chips.